


22

by NellDaie



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, F/M, Heartbreak, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NellDaie/pseuds/NellDaie
Summary: Based on Hachiimi's RFA kids characters. Jinsun (Zen's son) has a heart condition that stops him from living a normal life. Mijoo (Jumin's daughter) won't give up on being close to him.





	22

**Author's Note:**

> I just love writing about the RFA kids AU's. This is based off of the character designs from Hachiimi- http://hachiimi.tumblr.com/tagged/rfa-family-au.

Jinsun could feel the pounding of the ground underneath his feet. He smelled the crisp floral scent of the Summer air as it wafted by his face. He looked back to see the rest of the students in his P.E. trailing closely behind. At only 13 years old, with his father starring in one of the biggest dramas on T.V., he knew that he was lucky. All of these thoughts were processed in his brain in a matter of seconds. Then, nothing. Jinsun would rack his brain years later trying to remember this moment, but it simply wasn't there. It was like a light switch had been flipped, and he was tossed into unforgivable blackness. It felt like he had been drowning for a lifetime, but when he awoke, it had only been a week. 

He panicked, immediately upon waking. Glancing around frantically, his eyes settled on his dad, who looked more tired and worn out than he had ever seen him. Zen's glance met his, and he leapt up and held him in a protective embrace. He hugged back, still confused. When a doctor came in, Jinsun learned the frustratingly vague diagnosis that would define the rest of his life. 

"Mr. Ryu, we're doing everything we can, but unfortunately this is a rare case. The only diagnosis we can give at this point is that it's a heart rhythm disorder. We don't know why yet, but Jinsun's heart isn't beating correctly, so when the rhythm is off, it will cause a cardiac arrest...." 

There were more tests, and flowers and balloons and well-wishers from his class. There was the media as well, of course, but he never saw them- only heard his dad when he would vent to his friends. After 2 years, the tests were still happening, but the flowers and balloons and well-wishers had dwindled. Jinsun was withdrawn from school, and he felt that something had gone horribly, irrevocably wrong in his life for reasons that were inexplicable and unwarranted. The only times he felt halfway normal were when Mijoo would breeze in.

She urged him out of bed, when all he wanted to do was lay there and try to fade away. She argued with the nurses until they begrudgingly allowed him to be just a little active- with the usual warnings that his heart could stop at any minute. Even though it all stressed him out, when he was walking in the courtyard and saw Mijoo's smile and the way the sun glinted off of her ivory skin, he felt like it was worth it. If he died at that moment, it would really be okay if she was the last thing he saw. He told her this once, when he was 17. She was so upset that he felt he should be honest with her.

"Mijoo...you know I'm not...going to live long, right? What I have...they said it's degenerative." He peered at her cautiously as she settled next to him on a bench. Her brunette waves tumbled over her shoulder as she turned her head away from him briefly.

"So?" She sniffled, wiped an eye and turned to look at him. "I don't care how much time may or may not be left. Isn't it enough that I just want to be with you now?" She looked so beautifully defiant. Jinsun realized years ago- even before his diagnosis- that he loved Mijoo. She was strong and bossy just like her dad, but had the biggest, kindest heart behind all of that. The proof of that were her daily visits. Everyday after school, she would at least try to visit him. Even his dad couldn't see him as much as she did. 

She brought him back to reality with a hand clap. "OH! Right! Your birthday is coming up! You'll be 18! What do you want?" She grinned expectantly. He smiled, charmed by the enthusiasm she had for him. 

"Can I tell you on my birthday?" He asked with a lopsided grin. She looked confused for a moment before agreeing as exuberantly as ever.

His birthday came, and he managed to keep his secret wish in until Mijoo barged into his hospital room on the fateful day. "Sooo?" She asked, brimming with excitement. He sat up and gestured for her to come closer. She was a perky vision in a denim vest, black t-shirt and a skirt. Her lips were painted a tantalizing shade of crimson.

"It's...really embarrassing, actually." He felt the blush burning his cheeks. Her hyperactivity calmed down a bit. She waited for him to continue. "I...I've never been...you know....kissed by anyone...so..." He glanced over and her face was as read as his, but her grin remained. She settled herself on his bed, and nervously flattened her hands over the fabric of her skirt. "Okay." She said, and leaned in. His heart sped up and he really felt like it was in danger of stopping at any second. He gulped and closed his eyes, leaning towards her carefully. 

When their lips met, there was a small moment of hesitation. Then, Jinsun brought his hand up to Mijoo's cheek carefully, as if she were a porcelain doll in danger of shattering. Their lips slowly moved in tandem with one another- tongues diving in experimentally at intervals. It was one of the most perfect moments of his life. Mijoo and Jinsun heard a clamour at the same time and separated quickly from one another. The whole RFA gang entered the room at the awkward uncoupling and just stared. Jinsun noticed Jumin's stoic gaze drift to his lips before he remembered Mijoo's lipstick. He frantically wiped it onto his blanket, he face burning. Neither of the two teenagers would look anyone in the eye. The silence was broken by Saeyoung starting in with something quirky and the tension was put on hold. 

Mijoo was ready for it when she accompanied her father home that evening. She knew he was unhappy by the fact that he wouldn't even mention it during the car ride home. Driver Kim was always privy to their little disagreements, but the really personal ones that Jumin was genuinely angry about would be kept hidden from even him. She nervously chewed her lip at his deceptively calm exterior. 

She had barely closed the door behind her when Jumin began, "You won't see him him again." He said simply. She balked at his order so calmly thrown at her. "Excuse me?!" She asked incredulously. He started unbuttoning his cufflinks and sat down at the dining room table. She joined him, still dazed.

"You haven't been going to the library after school, have you?' He asked. She was only marginally ashamed. "No." She answered defiantly. "I have been going to see Jinsun." 

"That's going to end. Now." 

"Why?! He's my friend!" She felt tears fighting at the corner of her eyes, but she held them back, knowing that emotion was always seen as a weakness to her dad. 

"Mijoo..." He said, a bit more tenderly this time, "You know his...situation. I don't have anything personal against him, but..."

"But he's going to die soon." She finished for him. 

"You don't understand yet how excruciating that is. I'm trying to protect you." She knew that he was telling the truth. She knew that it was from experience because she watched as the light slowly drained from his eyes while her own mother quietly slipped away from a cancer that was too aggressive and found far too late. She swallowed, wanting to choose her words carefully.

"But it's my choice, isn't it? Did you regret loving mom?" She asked. He sighed, looking weary, as he always did when his late wife came up. 

"No, I don't. But you have a chance not to experience that pain. So I'm putting my foot down. I don't want you seeing him anymore." The finality in his tone told her that the conversation was over, as far as he was concerned. She glared, hoping that he could feel how unfinished she was. 

Jumin ignored his daughter's wishes and proceeded, over the next few months, to basically have her kidnapped by bodyguards after school to do various "important" activities that she would need to know as a daughter of the Han estate. She finally lost it after the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. She stomped into the mansion in her kimono and waiting for him to acknowledge her while he read the business section of the newspaper and lounged in his favorite chair. 

"A tea ceremony?! A JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY?!" He glanced at her briefly. "You look lovely sweetheart." He answered. 

"WE'RE KOREAN!!" She continued screeching. He calmly laid his paper down before he gave her a measured look. 

"Yes, but I do a lot of business with Japanese companies. Your skills that you learned today will become quite useful."  She was seething because she could see the glint of amusement in his eyes at her anger. If there was one thing her father enjoyed, it was using that calm demeanor to rile people up. She just took a deep breath and retreated to her room. She carefully packed away the kimono- those things are REALLY expensive- and laid out a plan for the next day.

 It wasn't an especially elaborate plan, she just feigned sickness after lunch and slipped away to see Jinsun before the guards/ kidnappers showed up. She knew she couldn't continue this ruse for long, though. She walked into his room and immediately felt the stale tension. Jinsun looked withered- like a lily that had been left in a vase with no water or sunlight. She ran to his side, but he didn't seem like he wanted to see her- he angrily turned his head to stare at birds wrestling for dominance on a tree outside.  

"Jinsun...please. I'm sorry I couldn't come to see you..." Mijoo started, but he stopped her with an aggravated grunt. 

"Do you think that's the only reason I'm upset?! Do you realize how...helpless I felt?" She waited for him to elaborate, the tears already suggesting that they were waiting to come out. "I realized how lost I was without you here. I can't even make myself happy...I'm going to drag you down like this if I continually depend on you for something as simple as that." He said. He stared at his hands that started to feel more and more useless everyday. "I know that it wasn't you. It was probably your dad- at least, that's what MY dad said...and I don't blame him. If I had a daughter, I wouldn't want her to be dragged into this, either." As he said that, the pang of sadness ripped at his heart again with the reminder that he probably wouldn't have children. Mijoo placed her hand over his broken, shabbily constructed heart. The warmth felt like it was piercing him with as much pain as there was pleasure in the simplicity of having her there next to him. 

"I felt the same way." She said. "Jinsun, let's rely on each other for our happiness, for as long as we're able. I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm an adult, and I don't think that life is always happy or always sad. I think it's balanced...so as happy as you make me, I'm prepared for the consequences when I no longer have you. But it'll be on MY terms- not yours or my father's." Her stare bored into him, and he placed his hand over her own. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He said, trying to sound disappointed in her, but still letting his smile and eyes show how utterly ecstatic he was. She kissed him tenderly, and tried to pour all of the loneliness she had felt over the past weeks into it. For both of them, the kiss felt like a sweet resurrection. 

Mijoo managed to find time to see Jinsun whenever Jumin would have long business meetings or travel abroad. They saw each other about the same amount they had before, only taking a long pause after Mijoo graduated high school and had to study for entrance exams. Before she knew it, they were nearing Jinsun's 21st birthday. She asked the question she asked every year: "What's your wish?" He thought for a long moment. "Can I have 2 wishes?" He asked, giving her that lopsided smile she had fallen in love with so many years ago. "Of course!" She nodded emphatically. He took her tiny fingers and intertwined them in his own. He loved watching the blush creep to her cheeks when he did that. They were together, and never felt the need to lay it out in words because they knew how absolute their love was. 

"Okay....wish number one is that I want to live to my 22nd birthday. The doctors said that most people with my rate of degeneration don't live past 20. I know that I've already beaten them, but I REALLY want to beat the odds." He said it a bit sadly, and felt guilty when hot tears invaded the crevasses between their interlocked fingers. He hurried along his list, "and number two is....I want you to become my wife." He said quietly, ashamed to be asking such a thing for her. He was especially alarmed when the tears seemed to flow more heavily after this. He started apologizing, but was stopped when her lips met his. "Is that a yes?" He asked cautiously. "DUH!" She said, putting her fear and trepidation on a shelf for a moment to enjoy this feeling. 

They planned their escape like they were planning a prison break. Truthfully, it felt very similar. It was around the time that visiting hours ended, and Mijoo wore a simple white cocktail dress. She had stashed some hydrangeas in her purse as well, along with a change of clothes for her soon to be husband. When people were being shuffled out of the hospital in droves, they failed to notice the handsome patient in the private room on floor 2 exiting with them. He settled into a suspiciously nice convertible. When he quirked an eyebrow, Mijoo explained, "I may or may not have had an accomplice." Before revving up the engine and squealing away. 

They knew this was dangerous. They knew that Jinsuns heart was a ticking time bomb. But when he felt the warm rush of air through his hair and saw hers tossed back in a torrential flurry of brown hues, he felt truly free and happy since the day his condition was discovered. She pressed the gas harder, urging the car to their destination before it was too late. 

"Mr. Choi..." Jinsun had already assumed that he had leant his car to the young heiress, but he didn't expect to see him at the little church. "You need a suit and a witness." The older man explained. "So I, 707, the Defender of Justice, has become the Defender of Love!" He exclaimed, earning a giggle from Mijoo. Jinsun was surprised to see how well the suit fit, and when he stepped in front of the altar and clasped his bride's hands in his own, everything in the world felt like it fitted perfectly. They said their vows and signed the papers. They both noticed that the priest gave a brief shock of recognition when he saw Mijoo, but he said nothing. 

They continued their rendezvous in a cheap hotel. Mijoo knew that any large hotel chain would surely call her father to inquire about her checking in, but the smaller ones just wanted her money. They begged, and Saeyoung relented to letting the young couple stay the entire night, checking into the room directly below them. They knew that he was there for more than a witness and a suit. He was there in case anything happened to his friend's son. They were grateful, though. Their entire lives, it seemed like they were waiting for this moment- the moment they became one as husband and wife. They were drenched and drowning in the feather-light sweetness of love that night- both feeling the physical expression of it for the first time. 

Morning came, and they awakened to a hideous banging. Mijoo rubbed her eyes and saw that it was 6 in the morning. She groaned, and roused her new husband awake. He smiled at her before concern covered his face at the ruckus outside. They both dressed and opened the door to see an extremely angry Zen, an absolutely irate Jumin, and Saeyoung, apologetically waving behind them. 

"Dad-" she started, but was yanked painfully through the door. 

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" He demanded, his face red and splotchy. She was going to ask him what he was talking about when he thrust his phone in her face. An article was pulled up of a certain celebrity news site. She read the headline  **"C &R HEIRESS WITH SECRET LOVER?!"** and winced- they couldn't have made it sound trashier if they tried. "Mr. Han, please don't be angry with her. It was my idea." Jinsun butted in, but Zen's angry exclamation ended whatever apologetic speech he was going to give. "Don't worry, we're pissed at you, too! I had no idea that you could be such an idiot! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?!" The bickering continued for a couple more minutes until the ambulance roared into the cracked parking lot. Jinsun stared at his dad incredulously, but said nothing as he was lead into the back. Mijoo looked on, feeling like she was watching an innocent man be loaded into the back of a paddy-wagon. 

When tensions had calmed down just a bit, the two were able to explain that they had gotten married. The anger and disappointment was refueled and the fighting began anew. Mijoo eventually learned to tune it out and found solace in her college coursework. Jinsun was so laid back that it never bothered him to begin with unless it upset his wife. After a few months, the hubbub from their elopement calmed down, and Jumin was able to accept that his daughter was truly happy. He tried desperately to ignore the shadow of mourning that hung in his own heart and told him to panic, to force her to get a divorce and separate her by any means necessary from the oncoming pain. He found some slight solace in teasing Zen about becoming a part of the Han family. Things felt normal, for a time. Mijoo was even able to sneak in a few conjugal visits with her husband. They loved the scent and feel of their joining, though nothing would compare to the first time. 

"So, do you have anything planned for tomorrow?" Jumin asked on the eve of the boy's 22nd birthday. They were sitting down to a nice dinner provided the chef downstairs. Mijoo shook her head, "He just wanted something simple, so I think having everyone there will be nice. I DO have a big surprise for him, though." She smiled that bright, warm smile that the elder Han was certain she got from her mother. The moment was ruined by a phone chime cutting through the air like a knife. Mijoo would think later that it was actually closer to an executioner's ax. Jumin watched the light drain from her face as she listened to the voice on the other end. He wondered, as he helped shuffle her into the car, if that's what he looked like. When Mijoo used her tiny child's hands to buckle him in when he lost his wife, was she trying to unsee the pale facade of calmness that couldn't fool anyone?

Mijoo felt her heart speeding up and slowing down. She calmly waded through reporters who shoved microphones in her face. She tried not to hear the questions. She tried to focus on the simplest things. When the white lights and the antiseptic smell of the hospital invaded her senses, she listened to her breathing- in, out, in out...when the nurse clicked the buttons for the second floor, she focused on the texture of her fingertips, and she nervously rubbed them together. But when she walked into the room, and saw Jinsun hooked up to a machine and not smiling at her like he always did, she couldn't focus on anything but him anymore. Jumin watched carefully as she set her jaw, trying in vain to stop her lip from trembling. 

"Mrs. Ryu...I know this is a difficult time, but Jinsun has suffered a cardiac arrest. He no longer has any cognitive functioning in his brain..." The doctor went through the prognosis (poor), the treatment (none), and asked her what she wished to do from this point on. Jumin and Zen sat patiently, watching the mechanical rise and fall of Jinsun's chest. Zen sniffled, and Jumin brought an arm around his friend's shoulders. Their differences were many, but mourning for a loved one was an unfortunate shared experience they now had. He let the tears wet his suit, and said nothing until they heard Mijoo's answer to whether or not she would keep Jinsun on life support for a life he was no longer a part of anymore. 

"What time is it?" She asked. 

"...10 p.m." The doctor answered. 

"Then, please keep him on for 2 more hours." She answered. The doctor complied with her wishes, and retreated from the room. 

"Sweetheart, 2 more hours? Are you sure?" Jumin asked, letting his emotion get the better of him as he saw her broken heart laid out clearly on her face. 

 "He wanted to reach 22. this is the last thing I can do for him..." She said in a ghostlike whisper. She left with Jumin to give Zen a chance to say goodbye. They sat outside the room, and pretended that they didn't hear the wails, and Mijoo tried to envision that it wasn't an echo from her own heart. After an hour, he opened the door again, and Mijoo entered. She turned around to realize that they had left her alone. She carefully tip-toed to the bed, wondering why she was being so cautious. It wasn't like he was going to wake up...she choked on the thought. She maneuvered around the wires that were sustaining her husband's bodily life and cursed them for doing nothing about the brain death. She finally managed to settle in next to him, and held his pale hand. She talked about normal things for a while- how her day had been, what the company was up to, school...she could pretend for a little while longer that things were normal. But when she looked up and saw his eyes closed, and the tube protruding from his trachea, she had to accept that she wouldn't get his usual reaction. 

Her trembling hand rested on his chest. "Jinsun...I actually had a surprise for you today. You see...I went to the doctor and..." Her tears fell in rapid succession for the first time that night. Like a dam had burst, they fell relentlessly on the blankets, some splashing on her simple wedding ring. "You're going to be a dad!" She tried to say it with some modicum of excitement. Truly, she was, because this was the remaining piece of him left, but the moment was supposed to be shared, and he was unable to do so. The only response she received was the hum of the machines. Still, she finished, "Happy birthday, honey..." The doctor, looking more and more like an angel of death entered the room. Mijoo refused to leave her safe haven cradled next to Jinsun. The doctor turned on the heart monitor that had been muted. And proceeded to flick off everything else.

_Beep_

She remembered the first time they met, at an RFA party. Jinsun smiled nervously and asked her to dance. He then proceeded to trip over her feet and scuffed her pretty new dress shoes.

_Beep_

Jinsun was at her mother's funeral. He looked so sad, and told her that he felt guilty because he was jealous. Even though he had a mother, she had disappeared shortly after he was born- leaving him with his father.

_Beep_

The first time she saw him in the hospital, he looked comically small in that big bed. She didn't understand at the time what everyone meant when they said 'he'll grow into it'. 

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeep_

She thought of his smile, his kiss, his dimples, his freckles, his faults, his blessings, his laugh, his everything. She clutched at his hand- those lithe fingers that had successfully grasped her heart so tightly without ever having really tried. She kissed him as the last fragments of life drained from his body. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Grandpa! We did the relay at school, and I was the fastest kid in my class!" A young boy with bright blue eyes and chalk white hair runs excitedly to the head of C&R. He scoops him up and nods at Zen. "Is he really that talented?" Jumin asked professionally. Zen nodded, "Yup, he definitely has my genes. You'll be a fitting successor to the company." 

"Well, we'll have to see if he has my genes as well, how are your grades?" He asked the little boy. When he heard all of them, he nodded satisfactorily, "Ah yes, then you definitely have mine as well." The two men bickered for a moment while the little boy laughed. Mijoo watched from her window, smiling. Just as quickly, she turned back to her medical textbook and set to work defining the sections of the heart.

 


End file.
